


Trampoline

by alpheratz



Category: Community
Genre: Coda, Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-21
Updated: 2013-02-21
Packaged: 2017-12-03 03:38:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/693678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alpheratz/pseuds/alpheratz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Annie discovers the trampoline. Coda to "Aerodynamics of Gender."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trampoline

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sheeana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheeana/gifts).



> Dear Sheeana, I hope this is to your liking. I'm sorry I wasn't able to incorporate more of your favorite things, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. <3

It was dismantled, taken apart and carted away, but the way to the nearest storage room was past the library, and Annie happened to be doing the reading for her Women's Studies class right inside the library's glass doors when they carried it by.

Annie needed to process her brief membership in the club of bitches, but the trampoline was right there, matte black rubber and shiny posts, and it was calling to her like nothing ever had before. Maybe it was the knowledge of who had owned it, Jeff's frustrated texts about the incongruity of a neo-Nazi owning a child's toy, that made her want to see it up close, but she definitely needed to do it.

She closed her textbook, smoothed down her skirt, and slipped out the door with a quick look behind her to make sure she wasn't being followed.

She was worried that she'd be noticed, so she kept her distance, peeking around the corners before turning and artfully veering towards water fountains when one of the janitors looked around at the clicking of her heels. It was working. The journey seemed endless when she was following them, but when they were at the storage room door, unlocking it, carrying the trampoline inside, time went by fast. She plastered her back to the wall and counted off the double-time beats of her heart.

The janitors walked past her without taking notice. She waited a minute and a half just to be safe, then quietly unpeeled herself from the wall and casually walked the ten yards separating her from what she wanted.

The door was locked, but Annie had picked that lock before. A careful, calculated wiggling of a hairpin, and then there was a quiet, satisfying click and the door swung open. The room breathed mustily in her face.

The trampoline was no longer in pieces. It stood assembled in the middle of the room, like all the other objects had given it its space and pressed themselves up against the walls like Annie had on her way there. It didn't look like any trampoline she'd ever been on as a kid, but it didn't look touched by evil either. Somehow, it was just a Trampoline, capital T.

Annie kicked off her heels, wiggling her stocking feet on the dusty floor, and climbed up, testing the bounce tentatively and then more and more bravely. The ceiling was higher than she thought, and the air up above was clean like it never knew dust. Her lungs felt huge.

Then, abruptly, her phone went off, and Annie was so startled her legs gave out. She crumpled on the surface of the trampoline, trying to catch her breath as she came to a standstill. Her legs were humming. She dug her phone out of her pocket. It was an hour later. 

"Where are you?" Britta asked in her ear. "We're all worried about you."

Annie breathed in and out. "I'm on my way."

She left the trampoline behind her. Her stomach was nervous, but her head was clear.


End file.
